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Aldbourne
The third major city of the Theridan Empire, Albourne is a vital trading city in Northern Paledia, linking the north of the continent to the south. The majority of the trade out of Cerrach, Freylea and the island states of Hared and Daend is directed towards Aldbourne. Albourne also relies on agriculture and farming for its wealth, the River Yen to its east and the smaller River Arn to its west enrich the surrounding land, with substantial irrigation used to add further to the fertile lands. Among the landmarks are the Seastone Temple and the Prince-Tower. The city is also a key garrison site for forces in the west of the Empire for keeping control over former elven dominated regions to the north, where non-human presence is still high, and certain areas in the west near Oldlyn where Wild Race labour is extensively used. The city is ruled by Lord Danottalos, current head of House Cettaric. History Mythic Foundation of the City and Early History As with many of the older settlements of Paledia, Aldbourne’s past history and myths are irrevocably intertwined, with scholarly debate rarely impartial and always controversial on the subject. Yet all sources agree that the traditional founder of Aldbourne was an ancient chief named Cettaric, and to this day his name is revered as that of a founder, hero and demigod by the dominant ethnic group in the city, the Cettarians. His feats and mythical taming of the waves are most famed in the Song of Cettaric, which tells of how Cettaric, the first man to set foot upon the future site of Aldbourne, was so smitten by the beauty of a mermaid singing on the beach that he went to war with the Merkings and built the first ever ships to win her hand by force. To this day, the descendants of the princes of Aldbourne consider themselves the offspring of that hard-won marriage – much to the snickering and amusement of modern Imperial scholars. Rise to Prominence Whatever the case regarding events now long consigned to the ages of myth, what is confirmed by literary and contemporary sources is that over the following centuries, the town of Aldbourne evolved into a mighty mercantile and naval power, whose fleets sailed the Narrow Sea in the early days of the Age of Many. Pioneers of shipbuilding and design, their merchants sold their wares up the River Yen and Arn, along the coasts with other human communities and even with the elves and dwarves. Wealth flowed into the city, and its citizens became increasingly powerful under the still-dominant leadership of House Cettaric, with trading outposts ensuring a continual supply of goods and raw materials to her burgeoning port. Yet she was never able to exploit this wealth militarily due to an inability or unwillingness to subdue the hinterland of Aldbourne, where a mix of northern human tribes and the Wild Races lived freely, sometimes paying tribute to the city but more often than not stifling any real expansion on land. The comparative wealth of the city also meant that her citizens became unused to the niceties of land warfare, as did the lack of any powerful land neighbour on which the blade of imperial ambition might be whetted. This is not, however, to say that militarily Aldbourne was weak; for throughout the centuries of the Age of Many her navy dominated the Narrow Sea. Her distinctively attired sailors and marines, with their trademark high conical helmets and copper-scaled armour, became famed for their skill and savagery, helped along by an eternal rivalry with the island kingdoms which now challenged her naval dominions. In addition, the continually expanding wealth and power of the priest-castes of the Seastone Temple ensured that Aldbourne's customs, commerce and colonies became dotted around the Narrow Sea. Subjugation and Recent History It was in this scenario that a king from the interior, later to be known as Emperor Therid I, was to arrive in the region and demand the capitulation of the ancient city. After several years of intermittent war, the sinking of her fleet by magical means and a fleet made up of Therin’s forces and his vassals, the continued siege of her landward side and finally, climactically, the death of the last of the Sea Princes in a desperate sally to try and break the siege, the new head of House Cettaric submitted to Emperor Therin, his city starved and broken. Yet the annexation of the city by the Empire, far from signalling the death-knell of Aldbourne’s wealth, merely opened up new avenues from which it could acquire wealth and influence. In the ensuing Wars of Expansion, Aldbourne was well-placed to gain from the subjugation of non-human populations, and the hinterland at last became a place where the Cettarians became the dominant population. New towns, villages and colonies were founded by the Empire, populated by Aldbourne’s surplus population and rapidly made these lands not only wealthier and more loyal to the Empire, but part of the burgeoning trade networks the Imperial conquests had suddenly created. In addition, being part of the Imperial conscription and military network meant that her citizens became schooled in the latest developments of human warfare, and her soldiers and sailors fought valiantly across the continents. Geography Seated on a three-pronged rocky promontory on the southern coast of North Paledia, the city's location provides it with two excellent harbours and an stout defences. The easternmost prong, the Maidenspoint, is the location of many lower-class tenements and storehouses, and is partially a man-made peninsula, having been expanded to the south to better defend the harbour with a new sea wall, as well as providing the town with more space to grow. The westernmost prong, the Sealspoint, is of a more clean and orderly nature, with lower-class tenements mixed in with mercantile manors, temples and shipyards. However the most prominent and largest promontory, as well as the wealthiest, is the Princespoint, blessed with access to the two harbours (and two low-beaches between it and the other points). It is also the location of the Seastone Temple and the Prince-Tower, while its markets, temples, taverns and shops are the hub of regional mercantile activity. Though some later advocates of revising the Song of Cettaric imagined the city's trident-like shape from above to mean it was in fact the broken trident spoken of in the ancient myths, the fact that the Maidenspoint was expanded and redoubted to make the city appear as it does casts doubt over this. A final note should be made of the great central marketplace and forum where the three prongs meet; here also are the towering walls which defend the city's landward side, and the three gates from which the last of the Sea Princes made a final sally. Demography Though undoubtedly a human city from birth until the present, the Empire's legacy of Aldbourne joining a common pan-continental state have made the city somewhat more diverse, with strong and well-rooted communities of humans from both the interior and the vassal states of the Narrow Sea adding some diversity to the existing Cettarian population. However it is that distinct Cettarian population which remains dominant both in terms of size and local authority, save for the Imperially-appointed and the heads of certain foreign cults or temples in the city. Non-humans have historically been few and far between in the city, apart from being drafted in as forced labour during the Imperial Era or galley slaves in the Age of Many. The historical aversion to domestic slavery of the Cettarians has therefore meant that Aldbourne has avoided the often troublesome elven, dwaven or wild populations which so afflict many other human metropoleis. Religiously speaking, the traditional Seastone Temple and its associated oceanic-orientated faith remains dominant, though its conservative nature and aversion to certain aspects of the Imperial Cult at times cause friction between the city and Imperial authorities. Category:Cities